Saturday, February 22, 2014

Christie’s Lawyer in Bridge Scandal Quits Case Over Tolls - Bloomberg

Randy Mastro - Chris Christie's $650/hour lawyer (really? whose money is going to that?) -has announced that he will no longer personally defend the Port Authority toll increase challenge which he has til now been handling for the bi-state agency. I don't see what good that does if his firm Gibson Dunn continues the representation. If Mastro is conflicted so is his firm. He and the firm should quit both representations.Frankly the whole thing stinks. I don't know what Bridgegate will turn out to have been about. But the soft underbelly of the Christie operation has been exposed. The state government, like the Port Authority, is a pork barrel operation for them. They can steer state and Port Authority contracts to themselves, their friends, and clients. - gwcChristie’s Lawyer in Bridge Scandal Quits Case Over Tolls - Bloomberg:

The lawyer representing New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s office in probes over deliberate traffic jams at the George Washington Bridge withdrew from unrelated litigation involving the span’s operator, a move that may have avoided a potential conflict of interest.
Randy Mastro leads a legal team coordinating Christie’s response to probes by state lawmakers and U.S. prosecutors into the closing of access lanes to the bridge from Sept. 9 to 12 in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The borough’s Democratic mayor has said allies of Christie, a Republican, created the gridlock to punish him for not endorsing the governor’s re-election last fall.
Mastro, 57, will no longer defend the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the bridge, against separate claims that it illegally raised tolls for the span and other facilities in 2011, according to a Feb. 20 filing in Manhattan federal court. The filing gave no reason for his withdrawal.